I was at a friend’s house this evening. She had a lovely gathering of friends. There was a lovely little origami box with a little favor in it for each guest when we left. Inside my box was a beautiful little note and a piece of pink quartz shaped like a heart.
The note reads:
📌You “wow” me because of your devotion to the community. I don’t know how the hell you do it or find the time. Unbelievable. Thank you for being so kind to me and validating me when I needed it most. I love how you are tough and strong….it has helped me so much and means so much to have your friendship. You are simply wow to me.📌
I am in awe of my friend and her kindness towards me. And her words. Her words are especially uplifting in a week where I have been called vile, a crazy bitch, and some other unmentionable descriptive and rather base adjectives.
How nice to have this little thing to treasure. I will keep this tucked away. It will always be a happy memory even years from now that will make me smile.
This whole evening made me think of a song sung at my grade school so many years ago…Simple Gifts. Here are the lyrics:
đź“Ś‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free, ‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight. When true simplicity is gain’d, To bow and to bend we will not be asham’d, To turn, turn will be our delight, Till by turning, turning we come round right.đź“Ś
Tonight was just that: simple gifts and a celebration of friendship hosted by a woman with a joyful and open heart we are lucky to call a friend. It bought me back to a better happy place, and made the craziness of life recently melt away.
I am in awe of my amazing friends. And it is so comforting to have them in my life. I am blessed to have my friends and family and to be able to feel love around me. Not everyone has that, and I know it.
I am in awe of this one friend in particular for her beautiful open heart and kindness to all. We live in a world where simple acts of friendship can buoy us through tumultuous and crazy times. And for me it also was an evening to enjoy the beauty of Chester County.
Thank you my friend. A big heart back at you. Thank you for reminding all of us this evening what is important in this world.
I often like to start posts off with a bang. So Moms for Liberty as in give you liberty or give you death? Big juicy kisses. You are the official Stepford wives of 2021. Every chapter’s Facebook page has an admin from the Mothership which seems less about freedom and more about controlling their brand of misinformation.
The claws are definitely out in the DASD (Downingtown Area School District) and here are examples of the love notes I have been expecting and have been receiving based on yesterday’s post:
So I thought I would share something from Rebecca Britton about the misinformation of “Kathy”:
And people like to criticize her for being active in her community or a community activist. I applaud her commitment to community. I go to know her and some other ladies I am rather fond of because of the pipelines issue. East Goshen even commended her:
I have been called all sorts of things lately. Well, if that what makes these women commenting feel better? Hell, it’s cheaper than therapy, Botox and plastic surgery, right?
These are the women who have to be the samey same including politically. I prefer women who are free thinkers.
These women who like to tear anyone different down wouldn’t know an actual Marxist anything if it bit them on the ass. And why are we still talking about CRT? Not taught in schools. Teaching real history is teaching about all the good bad and the ugly, including these folks. They will be teaching about them all some day too, and it won’t be flattering.
In the interim, remember law enforcement is indeed truly interested in all of this school board political activity. I will close with a meme I found today. I can’t take credit for it, but it cracked me up. I am sure I will get blamed for it, and I thank whomever created it…again so freaking funny.
This PAC claims to be non-partisan but I call bullsh🤬t on that. And they should just be who they are, not try to hide who they are. I don’t know what the end game is for this political action committee (PAC) except to get Republican candidates in office which wouldn’t be a problem for me if they were backing sane, rational candidates because in Chester County they are backing the super screwy. Even the Philadelphia Inquirer has asked lots of questions about the QAnon and anti masker candidates and more so really, what do they want? Sister Wives for School Board? The Handmaids Tale candidates for school board?
So I have to ask where Margie Miller and “Friends of Margie” gets data?
Margie teaches kindergarten at a school NOT in a public school district (in essence private) and she is running on a platform to not raise taxes, right? It’s interesting that the increase in taxes being discussed is for an all day Kindergarten program for Downingtown students? She hasn’t offered a way to generate this revenue to fund an all day Kindergarten program that I can find and would a public school all day Kindergarten be a threat to her current school or something?
I have no problem with someone saying they don’t want to raise taxes, but when they essentially accuse someone of being solely responsible for any taxes being raised in the DASD they should offer alternatives.
So last night was a back to school event and Margie Miller’s pals blanketed all of the cars in a parking lot with their crap. And their crap is aimed at my friend, Rebecca Britton. And these people didn’t clean up the mess they left, which means school personnel had to, which means taxpayers paid for Margie’s Mess, correct? How is that saving money?
A back to school night should be about the kids, not Margie Miller’s selfish political motives. I mean my gosh one would think that Margie should have put as much effort into her campaign paperwork correct?
Yesssss….and is it true Margie Miller didn’t file her PAC paperwork on time so she was fined? So then is it true she not only filed the late paperwork but she only filed one page of the 17 page document? So yo’ Chester County Voter Services why did you accept incomplete paperwork? Chester County Voter Services when will a new letter of campaign violation be issued on bad paperwork?
This woman cannot even follow basic election laws, so does Downingtown Area School District really need this hot mess in office? IMHO that should be a resounding NO.
Margie I hope you are a better teacher than school board candidate but you have to wonder what you teach kids judging from your campaign actions? And who exactly is running you since you don’t ever seem to want to answer questions on your campaign Facebook page either but you (they?) delete any comment or question that makes you uncomfortable?
Dear Margie Miller oh gurrrllll, we’ve got your number. And my final comment is you would holler like a stuck pig if they blanketed your kindergarten parking lot with flyers from Rebecca’s campaign. Your behavior is disgraceful and if you were a kindergartner you would be in time out facing a wall wouldn’t you?
Folks don’t put DASD in time out, keep Rebecca Britton as a School Board Director in your Region 4.
The above T-shirts crack me up, although I can’t take credit for their creation. You can buy them through My Chesco.
I thought of them this morning when I saw a post on NextDoor about moving to Chester County but being from Delaware County…and how moving here was a huge culture shock.
Different, yes, but culture shock? Meh, not so much in my opinion.
Now I was a newcomer not so many years ago and it was different. But that for me I think was mostly that I had not only lived in one place before Chester County for so many years, but because I was in my mid-40s. When you are younger or have young kids I think it’s just easier to assimilate and find commonality. I couldn’t have kids and was moving here and becoming a stepparent.
I think what made the move adjustment take time was because I was moving into a very established community, where people had lived for generations. However that was one of the things I liked best about coming to Chester Country. People put down roots and stay. Of course, with all the development these days I wonder if that will stay the same in the future? Because it didn’t stay the same in other places like the Main Line and Delaware County and other parts of Montgomery County.
Now as for the Delco pizza of it all I can’t really comment. Never had Gaetano’s and never understood the religion of Picas. Yes, sacrilege, I understand but I do not hail from Delco, I came from Main Line/ Montco. And I like my own pizza better with the exception of Tacconelli’s and the former Mack and Manco, now Manco and Manco in Ocean City, NJ. And out here Fiorello’s makes amazing pizza too.
What was immediately different for me personally when I moved to Chester County, was simply put, people were just a little nicer. The Main Line was super bitchy with a dash of misplaced entitlement by the time I left thanks to the Nouveau Main Line. Social climbers had created a blood sport, and those folks are exhausting (as well as ridiculous.)
Now I know plenty of people who refer to parts of Chester County as “Delco West” and for some I suppose that’s how they see it. I don’t. I see Chester County as Chester County a place with a rich heritage and am so glad I am here. I could wish for LESS development because that would put it in the category of “Delco West” via that perspective.
I have always known folks who grew up in Delco as quite literally “Delco Proud” and I respect that, it’s where they are from. It’s their Mother Ship so to speak. I wish I could say that about the Main Line but I can’t because the Main Line might have her history and memory pages on social media (where for some odd reason people are obsessed lately about discussing the Pew family and an estate that was broken up decades ago), but it has changed so very much. And not for the positive.
I will always have a lot of great as well as mediocre memories of the Main Line, but it is no longer my homeland and is not my Mother Ship. I do not miss the Main Line. I miss friends, but I do not miss living there at all. I love living in Chester County in spite of the nasty comments I get occasionally about what I write about.
And Chester County feels like home because it is home. Home is where my heart and friends and family are, right here in Chester County.
Last night was more of the same: pro-mask, anti-mask, with the anti-maskers spitting, sputtering, screaming, and cursing. Makes me think of the Crosby Stills, Nash, & Young song “Teach Your Children” every time. But what are these people teaching? What is their message?
Anyway, last night was tame, at least outside. But inside? Flip out city.
Flip Out 1:
Now one thing gave people pause. Check out this screen shot someone posted and asked if this was the same person:
Who is this person and where do they actually live?
Is this also the guy outside Valley Forge Middle School cussing out a handful of high school students calling them “Soyboys” and more offensive things? Is this the SAME person???
So here, check this out:
Another perspective:
A snippet from the Great Valley School District School Board UNsanctioned meeting:
So yeah, the sound is not great. People were recording in large rooms off of their phones. But if you turn up the volume, you can hear.
But it’s odd, isn’t it? People who say they live in one school district who appear to have twins or doppelgängers in other school districts? Coincidence or a road show? And what of these people who don’t live in school districts showing up everywhere? Who is organizing them and to what end? Is a political party paying for this? It sure is troubling.
Iwill note that law enforcement agencies are following these events.
It has been a long time since Anna Maciejewska disappeared. That was April, 2017. I write about her from time to time as my readers know. I last wrote about her this past April.
I know nothing new, she just happened to randomly popped into my head today. I was looking at some thing that CBS3 Philadelphia does called CBS3 Mysteries. It made me realize while local media is continuing to cover other long term missing persons, Anna once again seems forgotten.
In a local community group, someone else was thinking about her too at the end of July and said in part:
đź“Śđź“ŚAnna Maciejewska (wife of Allen Gould) is still missing.
If anyone has any about what happened or suggestions on where to look if foul play happened, please contact the Pennsylvania State Police at 610-486-6280. A reward of $30K is available.
Anna moved to Malvern (Charlestown township area) from Poland, got married, and had one child. She was employed in the area, and disappeared one day. Her family in Poland is heartbroken over her disappearance. She was first reported missing on 4/12/17 and last seen on 4/10/17. It’s likely she was missing ~2 weeks before this….I don’t want her to be forgotten because her family isn’t here to advocate for her.
Someone did another Anna video a few months ago. I don’t know the person and have not seen the video all the way through. But here is the link: https://youtu.be/yoifDpC_yXE
Obviously Anna is still on all of our minds, still. I wonder what she would think of COVID-19 and the lives we have all led since it entered our world?
I wonder how her little boy is? He’s getting bigger and if he still has memories of Anna, they are fading for sure, aren’t they?
I wonder how Anna’s parents are in Poland and her family there? COVID-19 meant they couldn’t come here and look for her anymore, and I don’t even know how much of that would’ve been possible given the health challenges that have been reported about her poor parents.
And then there is her husband. I kind of dance around the subject of Allen Gould because he’s never been charged has he? He’s still just a person of interest isn’t he? How can he live his state of limbo?
Well that’s it. I just randomly thought of a woman from our own extended community that most of us, myself included, never knew or met. But what happened to her could happen to any of us and anyone we know.
I think part of the reason why I thought of her is as I have said before, I have female friends who were born in Poland. Two of them still have family in Poland. This summer was the first time since before COVID-19 took over our lives that they were able to take their children to Poland to see their family, to see their grandparents.
Local, regional, and national media. There are so many shows that could cover her and this case. I wish they would.
Anyway, Anna we still think of you and pray and hope you will be found. You matter, Anna Maciejewska.
Sometimes the sunsets out here are just so cool. I wasn’t sure how yesterday would turn out but the clouds and light in the end, were awesome. There was even a faded rainbow.
Last night was a hell of a storm. And no one can say “Oh they are just 100 year storms” or whatever. We are getting these destructive storms out of Mother Nature more and more often. You can thank climate change, you know that thing that no one wants to acknowledge exists?
Personally, I did not get much sleep last night. The storm howled over, through, and around us. The sky was incredibly lit up by lightening and the roaring of thunder.
An Easttown Resident Video: Where is the Stormwater Management??
From my friend Michael:
Storm Water Management
I understand that not everything in life can be prevented. However, 3 Supervisor meetings ago myself and a neighbor specifically complained about storm water management on Bartholomew Rd. Yes, that is where I live. Please allow me to be provincial.
The irony is that the water surge was so strong last night that my neighbor who was with me at that meeting almost had an unspeakable tragedy. A huge tree fell through this house. His son was 3 feet away! The dust was so thick they could not see their way out!! By the grace of God, no one was hurt. The house looks a bomb hit it. I won’t post any photos out of respect for my friend. It looks like a war zone. It will be months before they will be able to live in a home on that land.
Water played a part in this. No more looks of anguish from certain Supervisors. No more “well the water has to go somewhere” comments. No more, “well, it is a 100 year storm”. It isn’t when it happens almost every year. I have no interest in debating why. It is time for action. There is simply too much water flowing down my street. I believe the construction on Waterloo has made it worse. It was a river last night. Yes, we still would have had flooding even with better management.
Let’s focus on preventing people from dying. This one was a close call. We need action on this issue.
Transparency!
I know personally what it is like to have a tree come down on your home. We experienced it during the ice storm of 2014. A tree literally came within inches of my husband’s head. We got through it, and that is what I am so diligent with tree work (a conversation for another day, but also important.)
Because I know what it is like for a tree to come down like that, every time there is one of these storms, right or wrong, I kind of hold my breath until they pass. Last year the Derecho wind storms wreaked havoc in Chester County including all around where we live.
Bartholomew Road. Berwyn. Easttown.
Stormwater management is something I feel most municipalities pay lip service to. They are more interested in salivating over ratables. Easttown is just one of the local Chester County Municipalities playing fast and loose with the well being of residents by just approving development after development willy nilly.
Water during these storms has fewer and fewer places to go. That is just reality. Which means our municipalities NEED to pay attention to density and for what they are approving, the stormwater management needs to be substantial.
Richards Road Last Night. Berwyn Fire Company Photo.
Last night’s storm also produced at least one sinkhole. Berwyn and Midland Avenues. Adjacent to a utility pole no less:
Mother Nature will be Mother Nature, but as communities we can do our part to do better. Which is why municipalities also need to pay more than lip service to responsible development as well as stormwater managerment. Below are snippets of video also from Berwyn and a couple of photos. I guess I am kind of wondering why the construction site was seemingly unprepared to deal with runoff? I know this was a big storm but still…
The man above wishes to be famous, so I am obliging.
I received this comment overnight to this blog. I perceive it to be threatening in nature.
One funny thing is I had to look up what NPC was (Non Player Character), and it still means nothing to me because I do not live by video game jargon.
I know people on school boards and elected officials and even reporters are no stranger to nasty comments and emails like this these days, but it seems like since 2020 and prior to that because of the election, people have no boundaries and feel behavior like this is acceptable.
It is not. I am not a public figure or elected official, I am essentially a housewife who blogs sometimes.
This person is obviously male and very angry. If by his IP address you know who he is, someone should have a chat with him. This behavior is not acceptable towards anyone.
Obviously his email is fake.
He says he lives in Willistown so his comment in situ went to the Great Valley School District superintendent and school board, Willistown and East Whiteland supervisors and police departments.
What he said for those who will complain about having to read a screenshot is as follows:
I am a Willistown homeowner and father of current students. Several distinct but loosely related points that constitute fair warning to the renegade officials we unwisely trusted with our institutions:
* The “mask dictatorship” is reprehensible, driven by propaganda of fear and “othering” that is shockingly effective. I know this because I am a student of propaganda otherwise known as marketing.”The school board is typically dictatorial, fragile, and evidently low IQ “electing” to punt their responsibilities to some mid-level nurse in West Chester that runs the health department. Pussy is an understatement for people so frightened of the literal bogeyman as to extra-legally and casually inflict this on their neighbors.
(don’t even get me going on the Willistown sewer smash-and-grab scheme.)
* And this latter point is the most enraging: “covid” is a weaponization to deprive citizens of information from and directions to their supposedly elected representatives, notably LOCAL officials re GVSB. The GVSD is behaving like the small-minded dictators one might expect in a Latin American banana republic from the 19th C. than elected officials in the United States.
* The irresponsible government situation is intolerable. After a year of pompous official indifference to the nationwide burning, looting, mayhem and murder of BLM/Antifa, the FUD fueled “covid” sanctimony is enraging on a visceral level. When the sleepy, gentlemanly yeomen of Willistown rise in righteous anger, you should understand the boiling point has been reached.
* LEsson Learned: as a political experiment, “democracy” has proven a complete and total failure thanks to corruption and easy public manipulability if not outright idiocy. You liberal-leftist dreamers are about to see your life-long aspiration achieved but you are not going to like how it turns out with a mafia version of old school feudalism that will replace this joke of government. That is to say, the law of the jungle is kill or be killed or sometime put as Only the strong survive. A motley coalition of rabbit people stands no chance.
IDGAF if you agree with my points, if you hate them, or if they inspire you to roll your eyes while spewing some stupid canned insult so typical of NPCs.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. NO MORE.
He’s right. Enough is enough. No one should put up with this brand of verbal abuse. And it is happening everywhere.
Storm clouds have arrived again on all of our horizons.
What is this world today in which we live? I actually ask myself that question because in spite of my friends and family, the world outside is ugly and out of control so much of the time.
At the bottom of this post is the UN-school board meeting in Great Valley from last evening. It was not the scheduled meeting of the Great Valley School District, these people stormed the meeting, disinformation in hand, were nasty and angry and took over a meeting of a large school board. The recording missed a lot of the angry and pejorative comments, and some even wrote to me how this was just a “community discussion.” Oh hell to the no. No business of the Great Valley School Board was conducted, just air time for the ill informed.
Among the ill informed, nurses. That blows my mind. One of the ill informed nurses is a Republican candidate for Great Valley School District, Sallie Campbell. She read a Psalm (Psalm 27) at a public school meeting. Separation of church and state much? She also tried to use that phrase “color blind”, and if she really understood what racism was, she wouldn’t use that phrase, would she? (See 1:12:36) She is a complete nut. She also doesn’t seem to understand she is running for political office and people can indeed comment on her demeanor as a candidate. She is mock worthy to a level that Saturday Night Live could make a skit about her.
Unionville Chaddsford School District also apparently had a similarly disruptive school board meeting. Other people elsewhere are reporting similar behavior at school board meetings everywhere. West Chester Area School District is also having issues.
This behavior is not acceptable and these adults are not misbehaving on behalf of the welfare of the children. This is all about them.
What happened last night was completely abhorrent and unacceptable. Given the angry and disrespectful people except I wondered why theycould not have had some of those people removed for being disruptive at a public meeting?
The behavior, expletives, and pejorative comments directed at the school board were a bit much (“pussies” “little bitches” whatever all grossly inappropriate.) As were the comments directed at those attending from the public who were wearing masks, some of whom were friends of mine. Some yelled at these people saying they were “retarded” (yes that word was used) and were wearing “face diapers”. Also other comments that had unpleasant racist connotations. None of that is OK.
I am not naïve and I have seen many a heated school board meeting but none where in essence people operating with disinformation in hand exhibiting mob mentality literally took over a school board meeting and had a non-sanctioned meeting. Some described it as a “community conversation” or other such drivel. It was not. And it prevented the business of a large school district from progressing. As a taxpayer, I object to that. If they want to have a “community conversation” they can go rent a hall or meeting space.
Do I like wearing a mask? Honestly no, but it is a small inconvenience in the bigger picture.
And the bigger picture is simple: if we suffer from large enough COVID resurgences, the reality is we go back to lock-down, and kids are deprived of the normalcy of everyday school they were deprived of in 2020.
The ugliness in this country as a whole right now again, is staggering. The behavior of some, simply appalling. Its like social mores no longer exist. I realized that even after lockdowns lifted I personally started going out less and less because I don’t wish to deal with the anger and vitriol that permeates everyday life. And I have to ask, how do our kids view all of this?
Today I feel world weary. And sad. And I am not a depressant. It’s watching how human beings are treating each other. I mean I am a realist and don’t expect world peace by the end of the summer, but I really wish for less ugliness in our communities. Next week the anti maskers anti vaxxers are taking their road show to a Tredyffrin Eattown School Board meeting and is any of this about the kids or just the egos of the parents?
And I am tired, so tired of the politics of political bullshit. Yes I cursed, but it is beyond ridiculous. I realized the other day I never hear anymore from some I used to speak with quite frequently. And I think it is because politically we have moved apart, and I am not exactly super liberal. But I don’t subscribe to the cult of fake news and 45 was Jesus with a bad rug. And it breaks my heart that intelligent people literally take fake news as the Gospel. (And I have to ask is it wrong to feel slightly gleeful that nasty Texas Governor Greg Abbott has tested positive for COVID? Asking for a friend.)
At 57 I find myself yearning for simpler days, or maybe some of the innocence of childhood where we didn’t notice the ugliness of the overall world permeating our day to day existence. But I guess that isn’t possible and I will just keep on keeping on… and gardening. Yes gardening. It’s a happy thing devoid of craziness except what is found in nature.
Yes I know we can only control our own behavior, but it is hard to swallow some days how the behavior of others affects us. Common sense and most aspects of a sense of decorum no longer exists at all.
Be safe and be peaceful out there. And garden more.
